video not working with Mandrake 9.1 PPC (on G4)

[jgrenier 0]

Hi,

I am trying to get linux working on my Mac G4. 128 meg of rams with (im pretty sure) an ATI Rage 128 video card.

 

When I boot from the CD, I am presented with the yaboot 1.3.9 messages. I have tried all gui installs and none of them works. When the GUI comes up, all I can see is an 8 colour image of the Linux Mandrake 9.1 installation. The rests of the text is streched as if it was running under a resolution that the monitor doesnt support. (all streched and greeninsh.) I have tried with three different monitors. (Philips 15in. MBII 15in, and a Sony G400 Multiscan 20in). They all have exactly the same output. Install-gui-old had the same problems...

 

So I had to use the install-text options. Everything went fine, until I had to perform video configurations. No matter what combination I would try, when I tested it, Linux would tell me that there is an error. So I try setting up to ATI Rage 128, with Monitor Sony 20 and resolution of 800X600 8 bit, and clicked next (even tough it had failed the test). Now Linux installed, and eventually rebooted. I saw a big bunch of stuff with [ OK ] by them, and observed that : interface eth0 had [ FAILED ].

 

At the end of this, my screen clicked on and off three time and I was in the linux shell.

 

So I guessed Linux was installed. I tried to type KDE and here's what happed.

 

XFree86 version 4.3.0

(EE) R128(0) cannot read V_Bios5

(EE) R128(0) virtual height (0) is too small for the hardware (min 128)

(EE) Screen(s) found but none have a usable configuration

 

Fatal server errors: no screen found.

 

I hope this describes my problem enough and that it is there is a way for me to fix this.

 

I am hoping I can re-install linux from scratch to fix the solution, because after trying all sorts of pathetic attempts to solve the problem, Linux is just not booting properly anymore (lots of [ FAILED ]!!!)

 

I would appreciate any help with this.

 

Thanks a lot, and sorry for my ignorance on the subject.

Jp

[Admiral LSD 0]

Since you can boot to the command prompt, you can try configuring XFree86 manually. I'm not familiar with Linux on the Mac, but on the PC a little script called xf86config is supplied with X in order to set up the XF86Config file. You'll need to know a bit about your hardware, particularly your monitor and graphics card, but the process should be fairly self explanatary.